Closure hold-down spring clamp for packing jars



July 31, 1945. 2,380,443

' CLOSURE HOLD-DOWN S PRING CLAMP FOR PACKING JARS H. W. INGLE Filed Nov. 23, 1943 humanl 31, 1945 CLOSURE HOLD-DOWN SPRING FOB PACKING JARS Henry w. Ingle, Windsor, Conn., assignor to nm- 1 ford-Empire Company, Hartford. Court, a corporation of Delaware Application November 2:, 1943, Serial No. 511,412

This invention relates generally to the packaging of foodstuifs and other substances, especially in a sealed package of the type which comprises a glass container, such as a Jar, a closure cap for the container and a sealing gasket of suitable material disposed between the container and the cap.

proved spring clamp of the character described which will be effective, when applied, to hold a An object of the invention is to provide an imcap in place on its jar until an excess pressure has been built up within the Jar, at which time the clamp will yield .to allow the cap to be displaced sufiiciently by such excess pressure to permit escape thereof and then will act automatically to return the cap accurately to its former position on the jar.

- A further objectof the invention is to provide a spring clamp of the character described which is adapted for use with a suitable Jar, jar closure cap and sealing gasket combination to enable such includes a portion adapted to serve as a convenlent finger-hold or handle for the clamp.

A- further object :of the invention is to provide a spring clamp of the character described which may be made of a single strip of suitable material, bent to provide a pair of hooks at the ends of the strip adapted to extend up under the edge portion of theskirt of a closure. cap on a jar against downwardly facing surfaces .on the neck finish portion or the jar and other portions which exert spring pressure in a downward direction on the top of the cap at places located at oppodte sides of and equi-distant from the vertical'centerline of the cap and at the lower ends of the side members of an open-bottomed handle loop or finget-hold portion ofthe clamp. v

The improved clamp of the present invention in the form now preferred by me is designed primarily ior use with a jar, Jar .cap and sealing gasket combination such as that which is dis-.

7 is to pr a spring clamp of the character described which sealing surface 3 ther Jar is enlarged to form the body thereof, thus pro- 2 Claims- (01. 215-91) Figure iisaverticalsectionalviemshowingthe improved spring clamp applied to a glass jar, closure cap and sealing gasket combination of the aforesaid Berthold application;

an131g. 2 is a perspective view of the clamp Fig. 8 is a relatively enlarged horizontal section substantially along the line 3-8 of'rlg. 1.

showing the particular shape of the end portion of one of the. hooks of the spring clamp and relationship thereof to the shape of the adjacent portion of the Jar.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a glass Jar I having an open upper end or neck finish portion 2 provided with an external annular frusto-conical eon adjacent to an end surface i at the mouth of the jar. vThe frusto-conical surface I is of greater diameter at its and nearest to the mouth of the jar than at its opposite end. A rounded corner surface 8 merges the frusto-conical surface 3 into the end surface I. At its lower or smaller end; the frusto-conical surface .3 is merged into an outwardly and downwardly inclined surface I, constituting the upper mined distance below the flange or head I, the

The closure cap may be made of glass and comprises a cover or head portion 0 and a deciosed in the co-pending application of Walter K.

Berthold, Serial No. 487,892. filed May 21, 1943.

for Sealed package and method of sealing, so as g to adapt that combination for home canning. The improved clamp, in its preferred form and a use thereof are shown, by wayrof example. in the accomp nying. drawing, in which:

' surface lie at the inner corner of the cap.

pending annular rim flange or skirt It. The head or cover portion 0 may have its central portion 9a depressed so as to depend into the neck portion of the Jar while leaving an clearance-space ll between the end surface 4 of the Jar and the overlying portion of the cap when the latter is in applied position; The inner wall oi the skirt of the'cap is formed to provide a cylindrical sealing surface I! extending from the luncture oi the skirt and the head or cover portion oi the cap for a suilicient partof the length of the skirtto cooperate eifectively with the frusto-conical surface I on the neck finish portion of the jar when the cap is in applied position.

Thesurface iiisshownasbeingmergediniothelower surface or the head of the ooverportlon of the cap by an arcuately curved or rounded At its lower end, the surface I! may merge into a downwardly enlarging inclined guiding surface is extendingpastthenangeorheadlout-hence! as oftheiar. Theskirtoithecapterminatesatits alone:

prying distance of the shoulder 8.-

A gasket H, which may be aring of rubber or some rubber-like or other compressible and resilient material encircles the upper end portion of the Jar above the head I. The inner diameter of the gasket may be about that of the diameter of the smaller end of the frusto-conical sealing surface 3. The outer diameter of the gasket may be slightly more than the diameter of the cylindrical surface I! of the inner wall of the skirt of the cap. The height of the gasket ring is slightly greater than the vertical distance. be-

tween the surface 6 on the flange or bead l and the level of the upper end surface 4 at the mouth' merge into the'lower ends of the upwardly and.

s,sso,44s lower edge a short distance above and withinpossibility thatglsss of the Jar may be chipped or harmfully scratched by the impact of sharp corners on these ends when the clamp issprung into applied position on the jar. It is obvious that the contact end of the bill of each of the hooks of the clamp is adapted to contact with any suitably located downwardly facing surface on a jar to which the clamp has been applied.

The particular jar, closure cap and gasket combination shown in Fig. 1, may be packed and sealed in a commercial packing plant by equipment available there and without need to rely j upon the action of a partial vacuumwithin the jar, resulting from the cooling of the contents of the jar as in home ca ning, to effect the sealing. However, this same combination may be packed originally or on re-use by conventionai'home canning procedure. In that event, a yielding hold-.

down for the cap is necessary to allow excess pressure to escape, it any builds up within the Jar, and

to assure setting up of a partial vacuum within the jar.

In the use of the clamp, as in home canning,

the contents to be packed may be placed within,

the jar while at a hiZh temperature or the temperature may be increased by heating. The-cap may be placed ovel" the upper end of the Jar upon the outwardly inclined inner legs I! of angular clamping members 3. The angular clamping members all, which are of generally inverted V shape, have depending outer legs 4', the lower end portions of which are formed as hooks H5. The bill portions 6 of these. hooks are .turned inwardly and upwardly and thus are adapted to extend inwardly and upwardly in the space Ill between the lower edge portionsof the skirt of the cap and the enclosed portion-of the neck ofthe jar into contact with the downwardly facing bottom surfacefls of the flange or bead 1 at diametrically opposite points on the latter when the clamp is in applied position substantially as shown in Fig. 1-. At this time, the portions ll l of the clamp at the iunctures of the inner legs ll: of the clamping members Ill and the side members of the handle loop I! will bear against and exert a substantial downward pressure on the upper surface of the cap at places equi-dist'ant from and at diametrically opposite sides of the vertical center line of the cap. Preferably. the cap has relatively depressed or equivalently formed surface portions 2| which engage with the portions III to resist unintended or accidental lateral displacement of the clamp on the cap. The portions 4| 1 of the clamp thus maybe termed closure presser members. Spreading of the legs I! and lllxofthe angular clamping members II: to cause the bills of the hooks II! to engage under diametrically pposite Mions of the bead I on the neck of the Jar will set up a spring action effective on,the members ii I to cause them to press downwardly on the cap. 7

By referring to Figs. 2 and 3, it will be noted that the bill portions of the hooks I I 5 are rounded at their corners, as indicated at I, and are curved concavely in cross section, as indicated at I. This latter feature is to enable the contact ends of the hook bills to conform to the curvature of the portions of the neck of the iarwith which they are engaged when the clamp has been applied. The opposite ends of the clamp thus are not likely to be accidentally displaced from eneasement with diametrically opp site portions of the neck of the Jar. Rounding of the corners of the glam contacting ends of the clamp reduces the sealed.onto the Jar.

gasket and the clamping members of the clamp may be manipulated so that the hooks thereof will be engaged with diametrically opposite portions of the downwardly 1 ing bottom surface of the head I tobring about ownward pressure on the top surface of the cap by the presser members 4| I, substantially as shown inFig.,1.. Should excess pressure build up within the Jar, the cap will lift under such pressure against the resistance 1 .of the spring clamp ,sumcientlyto allow escape of the excess pressure and thereafter will be returned downwardly to the desired sealing position. When the contents of the jar cool, a partial vacuum will be created which will retain the cap 'The' handle member I may be grasped and the clamp and Jar lifted'conveniently as a unit. It will be noted that upward lifting or tilting of the cap undcr'pressure from within the Jar will increase the clamping action of the angular clamping members on the Jar and cap. The

clamping members, including the hook portions of the outer legs thereof, clear the skirt of the cap sufliciently not to interfere with upward lifting'of the cap in response to excess internal pressure within the Jar and return downward move-. ment of the cap to the desired position.

I when it-is desired to disengage the clamp from the Jar, this may be done conveniently and easily by holding the clamp at its handle loop portion and exerting outward and-downward pressure on the outer leg of each of the angular clamping members 3 in turn. as by placing the blade of a knife or other implement (not shown) against the inner side of such outer leg and using itto move the outer leg downwardly and outwardly.

Theinvention is not limited to the details of the illustrativeembodiment thereof Shown in the accompanying drawing-and herein particularly itshoulderthenonspecedhelowthebeadsclosure cap for the container having a skirt extending downwardly over the upper endportionof the container to a level below that of the bead and within prying distance of said shoulder, and a gasket in sealing position between the upper end portion of'the container above the bead and the cap, of a spring clamp formed to extend across the closure cap and to provide a pair of hooks having inwardly and upwardly turned bill portions which extend between the shoulder on the container and the skirt of the cap and inwardly and upwardly within said skirt against the bead so as to cause the clamp to exert a yielding downward pressure on the cap.

2. The combination with a packing container which is open at its upper end and has an upper end portion .provided with an external bead thereon adjacent to said upper end, a closure cap for the container having a skirt extending downwardly over the upper end portion of the container and over. the bead thereon to a substantial distance. below the level of the bead, and a sealing gasket located between the upper end portion of the container above the bead and the skirt or the cap, of a'closure cap hold-down clamp comprising a strip of resilient material formed tosprovide an upright open-bottomed handle loop intermediate the ends of the-strip,

a pair of outwardly and upwardly inclined angular clamping member of a generally inverted V- shape and a pair of reversely curved presser members respectively connecting the angular bers to rest upon and exert a yielding downward pressure on the closure cap at places located equidistant from and at opposite sides of the vertical center line of the cap, said cap having depressions in its top surface oi. said places for the re-.

ception of said presser members.-

' HENRY W. INGLE. 

